I magine coming home from work at the end of a day to a delicious home-cooked meal, without having to stop at two markets to find food that everyone will eat, remembering to swing by the ATM first, and then begin chopping and prep work just as “Dancing With The Stars” is beginning. And that's just Monday night. There's a secret out there of the very wise, and very well-fed. Some of them are rich, but surprisingly, not everyone who dips into the private pot is, because it's not an exorbitant proposition. These top-secret agents carry their own knives, pots and pans, herbs and spices, and a plethora of fine recipes. They're personal chefs. And they're coming to homes near you. According to the United States Personal Chef Association (USPCA), a personal chef service specializes in making great meals ideal for family meals or casual entertaining. The service is designed so clients eat healthier meals, have more free time, and enjoy their favorite foods, all prepared at their home. Knives of Glory The joy of cooking via a personal chef By Lisa Brody
Transcript
Imagine coming home from work at theend of a day to a delicious home-cookedmeal, without having to stop at twomarkets to find food that everyone will eat,
remembering to swing by the ATM first, and thenbegin chopping and prep work just as “Dancing WithThe Stars” is beginning. And that's just Monday night.
There's a secret out there of the very wise, and verywell-fed. Some of them are rich, but surprisingly, noteveryone who dips into the private pot is, because it's not anexorbitant proposition. These top-secret agents carry theirown knives, pots and pans, herbs and spices, and a plethora offine recipes. They're personal chefs. And they're coming to homesnear you.
According to the United States Personal Chef Association (USPCA),a personal chef service specializes in making great meals ideal forfamily meals or casual entertaining. The service is designed so clientseat healthier meals, have more free time, and enjoy their favorite foods,all prepared at their home.
Knives of GloryThe joy of cooking via
a personal chefBy Lisa Brody
“A common misconception is that a personal chef service is only for thewealthy. Anyone who has a need to solve the 'what's for dinner?' problem canhire a personal chef,” USPCA said. Personal chefs work for busy professionals,seniors, people with special dietary needs, new mothers, busy families, singles,and anyone seeking to improve the quality of their life through creative, freshand nutritious meals, with the convenience and free time that having someoneto shop, cook and create their meals allows them.
A personal chef meets with you first, and discusses your likes, dislikes, foodallergies, health needs, and any other dietary concerns, such as diabetes, glutenfree, high blood pressure, high cholesterol or cardiac diets, and customizesmenus from which you can choose. Most personal chefs will e-mail you yourmenu choices each week for your review. Don't want mashed potatoes? Noproblem. Dying for your mom's pot roast? Hand over the recipe. Once the menuhas been decided upon, a personal chef does all of the grocery shopping for you.They will purchase the freshest ingredients available, often going to severaldifferent stores early on the morning they are preparing your meals.
On the agreed-upon day, most chefs come into your kitchen, with his or herown pots and pans, knives, food preparation devices like Cuisenart or blender,spices and herbs, rags, and containers in which to put your freshly-made meals.The only thing a chef will use of yours is the stove, oven, BBQ (if there issomething you enjoy prepared that way), refrigerator and freezer. Unless youhave decided to hire a chef on a daily basis, most chefs come once or twice aweek, and prepare several days worth of meals at a time. Some must be eatenwithin a day or two, and are put in the refrigerator; others are frozen, withdetailed labeling and reheating instructions, to be enjoyed in the coming days.
Then the chef completely cleans the kitchen, leaving it better than you left itthat morning. When you come home, you are welcomed with fragrant aromas, aspotless kitchen, and no decisions about dinner.
Chef Dan Engel of Warren, who operates The Original Wandering GourmetPersonal Chef Service, begins almost every day cooking for a man indowntown Birmingham. He travels throughout the metro Detroit area,
helping people enjoy life a little more, and stressing a little less.“My clientele goes from an 87-year-old woman in Grosse Pointe to a young
married couple with three girls in West Bloomfield,” said Engel. “No two clientsare the same. Some are daily, some are weekly, some are bi-weekly, and someare monthly.”
He notes that there are some clients that use him only occasionally, as atreat, and he is given out as a gift certificate for birthdays, anniversaries,wedding gifts, and holiday gifts.
Engel was originally a tool and die maker with American Axle. Sixty-plushours-a-week of factory work began to grind on him, and a friend told him theyhad seen a personal chef book at Costco. He didn't find that book, but diddiscover the USPCA website. He went to Atlanta, took a two-week crash coursewhich focused on running a personal chef business, set up a menu program,learned other necessities, and he began a side business while still at AmericanAxle.
The personal chef bug bit because “I've been cooking since I was 10,” hesaid. “My parents divorced and I couldn't stand Chef Boy R Dee out of the can. Ibroke out the Betty Crocker cook book, and started cooking. The first thing Imade was an omelet. My mom worked afternoons, there was my sister and I,and I started cooking dinner.”
Engel said that about a year after he began his personal chef business, hewas so busy, he couldn't manage both it and working full-time at AmericanAxle.
“I asked my wife, Liz, if she wanted to handle the business end, and I leftAmerican Axle. Now Liz handles the client booking, billing, menu and reciperesearch, creates client menus, goes with me on in-depth client interviews, andI do the shopping and the cooking,” he said. They are so busy, they each haveassistants to help them with their end of the business.
“My specialty is my repertoire,” said Engel. “I can do thousands of things.You can eat something different every night of the week for years, or you canhave the same thing your mom used to make. Some people give me old familyrecipes. There are no unusual requests. Most people give me their house keysand their garage codes. The only way they know I've been in their house is thearoma I've left behind.”
Betty McBride Stratton of Silver Spoon Gourmet of Northville went topersonal chef school run by USPCA in 2001 in Rio Rancho, NM, now calledCulinary Business Academy, and has been a personal chef ever since.
“I was looking for a home-based business, and saw a newspaper supplementabout personal chefs,” Stratton said. “I was a tomboy who liked to cook. I sawthis article about personal chefs, and my husband said, 'this looks like you.'Restaurant cooks work crazy hours—holidays, nights, weekends. That was't for
The Tradition Continues.…Come in for the perfect fit
me. This was something where I could choose my hours.”Her training taught her to prepare food in the proper way, and she is a
certified serve/safe personal chef. “There are a lot of food-borne illnesses, andwhen I'm cooking, I'm cooking a lot of food at one time,” she said. “You want tomake sure you hire someone properly trained in food preparation.”
Stratton said most of her customers are busy professional couples, with orwithout children, senior citizens who no longer want to cook but still prefer toeat in, someone who is disabled or ill, recuperating from surgery, or temporarychef jobs. Besides word-of-mouth, most people discover her through a websearch, such as hireachef.com, via USPCA, where they key in their zip code, andfind her website, silverspoongourmet.com.
Stratton said she cooks a lot of international cuisine, including Asian, Italian,Middle Eastern, Thai and Mexican foods. She also works with a lot of restricteddiets, and said people enjoy her comfort food of pot roast, chicken anddumplings, and meatloaf. “I don't know if there's a kind of food I haven't done,”she said. “And I always ask if there are any allergies or things people dislike. Ialways ask people what they visualize for a meal.”
Debbie Cikalo of Farmington Hills began Deb's Dishes Personal three yearsago, after seeing a small add for personal chefs in the back of a copy ofCooking Light magazine.
“I was an engineer at Visteon at the time, and they offered a volunteerbuyout, which I took. I then went to the Great Lakes Culinary Institute inTraverse City, which is a two-year program,” Cikalo said. “I then went toUSPCA, and learned about the tricks of the trade, how to market myself, andbecame certified through them.”
Cikalo covers Oakland County, regularly working in Birmingham, as well asother municipalities, cooking fresh serve, all-organic, comfort food, and MiddleEastern food in clients' kitchens. She can do any kind of special diet, she said,having worked with nutritionists for athletes who need to follow specific dietaryplans.
“They let me in, and I bring in all of my own equipment. I do the groceryshopping for them, even spices, cook for them on site, and leave instructions forthem on how to warm their food up, then I pack my stuff back up and leavetheir kitchen as clean, or cleaner, than when I got there,” she said. “I like toleave a little surprise, like cookies, banana bread, or brownies, when I leave, iftheir diet so allows, or else a flower, to brighten their day.”
Mary Gindhart of Troy was a stay-at-home mom who was looking for aflexible job, and had a passion for cooking.
“I took the USPCA's online culinary class, learning the difference betweenroasting, braising and sautéing, using knives and other preparatory advice, aswell as learning marketing and advertising and how to set up a business,”Gindhart said. She opened Cruisin' to Your Kitchen five years ago, and said shespends about 60 percent of her time cooking, and 40 percent on the businessend of the business.
Besides cooking Italian, Mexican and homestyle recipes, Gindhart said shecooks a lot of gluten-free, soy-free and dairy-free dishes, which she developedfor a client she has whose diet requires that. “It's interesting coming up withdishes that taste good, are varied, and that they don't realize are gluten-free,soy-free, or dairy-free. There are ingredients to substitute,” she said. “I'm not anutritionist, but I can make things healthy. Everything is fresh. I know. I cut it, Iprepare it.”
While she acknowledges that the recession has impacted recent business,she loves what she is doing, because she said she feels she is helping peopleeat healthier.
“I'm helping them eat at home. They don't have to worry about tipping awaiter, getting in a car in the cold weather. They're eating healthier than typicalrestaurant meals, and there are leftovers with me,” she said. “People are so busyworking, dealing with their kids and after school and evening activities. Thisway, they come home to a healthy, home-cooked meal.”
Gindhart typically comes in and cooks five entrees, with four servings perentree, including all groceries, cooking, packaging and labeling, which costsapproximately $350.
Stratton's service is also all-inclusive, and depending on menu choices, howmany meals desired and how many people are being served, costs range from$275 to $375.
Engel can do anything, he said, but a 20-meal package, which feeds a singleperson five days a week for a month, or a family of four for a week, runs $400.
Besides everyday dinners, each of the chefs also do dinner parties and caterlarge parties, where their imagination is the limit to their creativity.
“The part of my business that is unique is that anything that has to becooked, can be done,” said Engel. “That's the personal part.”
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